Crick, Williamson among those headed to camp

A lot of these names trickled out during the winter meetings, and others were obvious, but here’s the full list of non-roster invitees for spring training. It’s a mix of familiar veterans and exciting prospects, with a few new names (Kameron Loe, Brandon Hicks) thrown in. Will have much more on these guys in the coming weeks; for now, the list (sorry for the jankiness, posting this from my phone at a diner):

Giants pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to the spring training complex in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 14. After physical examinations, pitchers and catchers will work out that afternoon. Position players report February 18 and the first full squad workout is slated for February 19.

Tom Tolbert on KNBR just now: “the Bosch/60 Minutes interview was sleaze on top of sleaze, on top of sleaze”.

And A-Rod has sued the players’ association for not defending him to the nth degree. [sarcasm on] Poor, poor Alex – NO ONE, not even his own union, is doing anything to help him. The whole world should feel so, so sorry for him.[/sarcasm off]

Didn’t think we’d see a bigger villain than Barry Bonds out of this whole PED mess anytime soon, if ever, but A-Rod has already surpassed Barry there, for sure.

Moooooooooose

Due to an inexplicable translation error, he signs with an independent minor league team.

Vegas Giants Fan

I like Brandon Hicks. He played well for the 51’s last season. .283/11/49 – .348/.450/.797 in 95 games. Played 3/1B – 26/2B – 25/SS – 41/3B. Lot’s of clutch hits last year. 28 years old. Surprised the Mets let him go. Looking forward to watching his progress at Spring Training.

Moooooooooose

Actually, he’s quoting Geoff Mack, the writer and Hank Snow, who made it a # 1 hit in 1962 (I looked that up).

dgg

No offense, Alex, but the list is tiny. I zoomed in 3x, which made the list slightly bigger, and everything else on the page HUGE.

** I think you can play around with #2 through #5, but Bonds is no higher than #6. I’m not a supporter of his PED use and I’ve met him a couple times (a-hole), but I don’t think his level of throwing people under the bus and lying (McGwire and Sosa with the Maris family) reaches the level of the others.

I’m also not comfortable with illegally leaked Grand Jury testimony being used to write a book for profit. If you know it’s illegal and use it, then you should suffer the same consequence as the person that actually illegally leaked it, IMO.

ClutchUp

I hear he’s trying to decide between San Diego’s Surf Dogs or Footy’s Salty Dogs.

South City Jim

Well, the other day I wondered if Runzler had been signed. I guess this answers my question. Glad he’s back. There’s always value in a lefty that can dial up 95.

Oh, it was you, SJC. I knew someone had asked about Runzler the other day. I’m glad to see he’s getting this chance.

ClutchUp

Maybe he should trade out 95 for 92 with command?

ClutchUp

Such positive reinforcement 🙂

ClutchUp

… the diner inside the ferry … I know them well.

dgg

I don’t know but I’ll say: not the Giants, and I hope not the 2 D’s: Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

dgg

Baggs on Minicozzi:

“… Minicozzi was a 17th-rounder in 2005 whom the Giants released three years later following major back, elbow and wrist surgeries. Minicozzi turned to independent ball, bouncing between three leagues.

On a whim in 2012, Minicozzi noticed that the Giants’ Double-A Richmond club was playing at Reading, Pa., not far from his home. So he drove to the game, waved from the stands, got the attention of his old manager, Dave Machemer, and thrust some stat printouts into his hand. The next day Machemer let Minicozzi take some early hitting with the team, and after just two or three swings, he and hitting coach Ken Joyce exchanged looks. A few weeks later, Minicozzi was playing pro ball again, and hitting in the middle of Machemer’s order. Last year, he hit a homer when the Giants called him up from minor league camp for the day. And he went on to hit .309/.400/.445 for Richmond.”

Foothills Ryan

Good Sleaze-Power Rankings you’ve got here. I particularly like the insertion of the writers. Clemens may be higher.

Keep’n It Real

Yep…maybe swapping Clemens and Palmeiro. McGwire and Sosa stay where they are because although they brought back baseball from the strike backlash, you can’t mislead the Maris family like that.

ClutchUp

I love YOUR #6. I’d add Jeff Perlman in there somewhere. He and Barry went to Serra HS in San Mateo. Perlman “went back to Serra” to gleen some dirt about Lamar and he was ushered OFF of school property.

Foothills Ryan

I just want to say that Clemens is still a Hall of Famer, like Bonds. Between ’86-91 he won the Cy Young 3 times !

alexpavlovic

I apologized for the jankiness in advance!

Keep’n It Real

I agree, but the brashness (PED-related or not) of both of those guys will keep them in a holding pattern for a long time. This will only change if HOF voting reform takes place and more parties (beyond the sports writers) are added to the equation.

alexpavlovic

Will check on this, but according to Dan’s wife (on Twitter), he was never a free agent

DrLefty

Oscar nominations will be announced later this week, so let’s get a jump on them by discussing spring training snubs:

I know you did. Thanks for the Giants news! and… Welcome back, if you’re back!

Foothills Ryan

Clemens was really weird in that congressional hearing. He was doing something odd with his tongue to scrape the saliva off the roof of him mouth or something. It was one of those “tells”, no need to rig him up the machine.

Foothills Ryan

Osich looks like the only snub to me on that list. What’s up with that? He’s like the best lefty reliever prospect in the system (nod to Cove Chatterer).

Speaking of shows, was Downton Abbey on last nite? My wife and I forgot to watch. We were both reading books.

DrLefty

It was on. Avoid spoilers online!

Cody Hall seems like a snub to me along with Osich. They promoted him to Richmond mid-season and sent him to the AFL.

Moooooooooose

I think Arod was a product of PEDs!

Foothills Ryan

Does Daisy get married? And can I survive w/o watching this episode?

Foothills Ryan

They can afford to bring Hall along slowly. He’s late on the scene as a pitcher. I’m in the know b/c of that story you linked.

dgg

Some pivotal things happened in this episode. What was odd (and this is not a spoiler) is that there was not one scene with Mary and Baby George. You’d think they would show Mary as a new mother instead of… on a horse.

avwh

The upper crust in this society at this time, though, barely had anything to do with their kids – so I think that’s pretty realistic. (at least she MENTIONED him to her new beau)

Foothills Ryan

It appears I can read some recaps online. Which I’ve already gleaned something very pivotal.

dgg

You made me laugh out loud, avwh, capitalizing MENTIONED. (What an awful era to be a mom or a child, upstairs or downstairs.)

The story that Carmot also says he linked a couple of months ago…I seem to have deeply offended him by not remembering that and/or not mentioning it. Bummer; didn’t mean to upset anyone. (Sometimes, I’ll admit I stir the pot, but this certainly wasn’t one of those times.)

DrLefty

Yeah, neither George nor little Sybil had any screen time. Isis the Lab, however, never misses an episode!

Foothills Ryan

Did you make that internet hug? I think that has potential. Carmot could use an internet hug.

DrLefty

Well, Alex, not to question YOUR sources, but MY source (my college roommate who lives in Santa Clara) is Michelle Runzler’s Mary Kay lady, and SHE (my friend) told me back in December that Dan was still looking for an opportunity with a team.

Never underestimate the power of girl gossip. It runs the world.

DrLefty

I’ll still go with the Yankees. They need him the most, and they have all that freshly freed-up A-rod money to spend. Tanaka would have Japanese mentors (Ichiro and Kuroda) and would quickly become the ace of the staff (CC seems to be fading/regressing). And he’d have plenty of run support with McCann, Beltran, Ellsbury, Teixera, Soriano, and Gardner.

dgg

Did you read carmot’s recent posts and exchange with Foothills?

Foothills Ryan

Good news ! It looks like I can stream last nights episode straight from the PBS website. 🙂

DrLefty

Stratton is a pretty big snub. It looks like they didn’t go lower than players who were in San Jose last year–but still, Stratton was a first-rounder, and Brown and Panik already had invites by this point. This is Crick’s first invite, but he’s just a baby who signed out of high school. Stratton played four years of college ball.

Also, and I’ll edit this above: Kendry Flores is on the 40-man, so he’s not snubbed. But Adalberto Mejia was snubbed. Guess his bad AFL did him in.

DrLefty

Yes, I was going to mention that. These days you can watch almost any show online after about 24 hours.

dgg

Why on earth does a map of the Dominican Republic get 2 down votes? Huh?

ClutchUp

Where?

Foothills Ryan

Only so many innings to go around and that’s a big list above. I can’t recall how long after ST starts that they move players out of camp. Next year for those guys, next year.

channelclemente

Bad plantains? I thought it was interesting way to look at the clannishness of the DR with regard to ballplayers.

Foothills Ryan

Fernando Rodney knows something about plantains. Sign him up!

ClutchUp

Buggarly’s looking into the Rick Barry/Dwight Clark procedure.

Foothills Ryan

you’re funny.

ClutchUp

WoW Mary Kay is still solvent? I thought Amway bought them out?

dgg

A day ago on the previous thread.

ClutchUp

Carmot might be on assignment checking out the Fukujima radiation fallout fiasco.

Foothills Ryan

I can give you the Cliffs notes.

He felt persecuted, belittled and ignored on this blog. And this blog has no redeeming value. So long suckas.

That must have been a Carmot imposter. He has tougher skin than Karel on KGO. Carm will have a spring training revival.
BOOM!

DrLefty

Ah, that explains the discrepancy in sources: “like we thought.” Funny that they wouldn’t know his status for a couple months. Sounds stressful!

DrLefty

Oh, my goodness, yes. My friend is a district manager or something–whatever level you have to achieve to get a car. She does really well, I guess. She goes to some huge annual conference in Dallas every year, too.

South City Jim

Thanks Alex. Appreciate it.

PerSpeier35

I missed Carmot’s post yesterday but went back and read it a minute ago. Very sad. Obviously being a Giants fan, researching players, and participating on the blog is a big part of his life. He’s totally wrong, he’s not dismissed on the blog but he takes the criticism and condescending commentary way too personally. Basically we are all anonymous Joe’s and Jane’s here, you can’t take anything too personally. He shouldn’t care if people talk about his mother or call him an a bleeping bleep. I hope he snaps out of it.

Michael Scott

Speier: You are a 24 carat jerk.

Michael Scott

Carmot has very interesting, if rather wordy comments. I hope he returns.

Michael Scott

I don’t think of it as being snubbed. A lot of the players that are invited will be making their last appearance in a big league camp, Stratton and the other “snubs” will be in the minor league camp. As is the case every spring, the minor league “campers” will play with the big leaguers later in the spring.

Foothills Ryan

I hope he’s lurking and reading that he’s welcome back and missed. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about his absence. Hope spring eternal. Maybe he’s just waiting for rain.

Foothills Ryan

And you sir, are the Hope-less diamond of jerk seasoned chicken, with plantains.

Michael Scott

It’s a nice story, he’ll be a good Fresno addition

Foothills Ryan

one other person is typing while urinating…

Michael Scott

Why don’t you trash Speier’s Mom, he won’t mind.

Foothills Ryan

Osich still has plenty of work to do, like Hall. I imagine they are maintaining the governor on their arms.

Foothills Ryan

You’re an easier target and you have thick skin.

Michael Scott

You obviously like being schooled. But really, let’s talk about Speier’s mother, that tramp.

Michael Scott

“all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”‘all work…..

People have many reasons why they might make a blog a big part of their lives. If I remember correctly, Clutch did some commenting while he was having his chemo treatment. I have to be at home 23 of every 24 hours. Some people are bed ridden. Speier’s comments about Camot were totally out of line and I shouldn’t be the only one on his case about it. It should start with you as one of the “vets” here.

Foothills Ryan

You’re joking. Speier’s comments are the perfect dose of tough love.

Michael Scott

I’m not joking. It was an insensitive and presumptuous piece of trash.

Michael Scott

Yes, a hug would be a good thing. He’s sensitive about a lot of what’s said to and about him. His sensitivity should be respected, not sheet on.

Michael Scott

So you won’t mind If I bring your mother into this?

Michael Scott

Obviously typing and urinating is a big part of your life..

Vegas Giants Fan

Lefty, he posted that link on my request. (I don’t know how to do it and had asked if someone could post the link for me). He was kind of snarky with me that day, pointing out that I had posted the wrong date of the original story, like it really mattered. I wrote an excerpt of the story earlier on the blog and thought the entire story would be worth the interest of everyone on the blog. I have know idea why he’s so upset over something he didn’t come up with in the first place.

Foothills Ryan

You should know. I’ve given you an internet hug before.

Vegas Giants Fan

Cody Hall for me. Here is his splits for 2013. (San Jose and Richmond)

I’m sorry I slept through Carmot’s brief return yesterday. Although I’ve been one of those to poke occasional fun, I also appreciated his unique voice and his intelligent and amazingly exhaustive research. I actually spent a decent amount of time wondering about what his story might be. I hope he comes back, but maybe I have a thicker skin than most so don’t get how he feels. With my job, an ex-wife and two teenaged daughters, I’m very used to people being unhappy with me.

Vegas Giants Fan

He has to understand that sometimes less is more. He also has to understand that you can put a ton of work into a post and get very little response. It’s happened to me many times. That’s the way it goes. I’ve learned that you have to keep plugging away. I’ve posted simple lists that have gotten over 30 responses. You never know. He needs to figure out how to make the blog work for him. If he can he’ll be fine.

The Oracle

Yes. He just needs to throw his stuff out there and not worry about the reaction.

dgg

Did everyone else but me realize that Jose Casilla is Santiago’s younger brother? I like this family affair stuff on the Giants. It’s cool.

dgg

Okay, doesn’t this statement put an end to the will-they or won’t-they sign Tanaka?

“Though the Giants consider their starting rotation set with Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong, the organization expects Crick, Blackburn, Blach and others to begin competing for jobs as early as next season.”

dgg

I’ve been thinking about “less is more,” but it seems to me that’s not quite it. Because… no matter how long your posts are, Vegas, I read every single word. I don’t really know what it is about some people’s posts that have me skimming rather than reading.

PerSpeier35

Oh no, Michael Scott, the smug imbecile, said another bad thing to me. Whatever will I do?

Foothills Ryan

If I type a short post that says

“God is good”

and nobody responds, that doesn’t mean there’s a bunch of atheists on board at GE.

If carmot only knew how much attention he’s getting right now. More press than Tanaka !

Foothills Ryan

Do I get some points for not talking about your mama? Mike is just doing his “thing” and I accept him for it.

Foothills Ryan

You’re sensitive about Brandon Belt, but it’s okay to have an “Achille’s tendon”.

Foothills Ryan

John Sickels has been a busy bee. The New York Mets Top 20 farm system grades within the same tier as the Giants.

Their 20 score: 27.5 to the Giants 26.5. The Royals at 24.5 are also within this middle tier. The Angels score of 8.5 should be last by a good margin.

PerSpeier35

Yes, thanks, she’s not here to defend herself. I should have stayed up longer last night, didn’t realize there would be fireworks.

You know, with this winter drought the fields are in good playing shape. By the time us oldies get in the full swing of practicing for the season it’s going to rain like crazy.

Foothills Ryan

OFF Topic: All caught up on Downton Abbey. It was a pain to stream, but made it through, scene by scene. This show is legit. The writers know what they are doing. Good writers take you through all kinds of situations. And I don’t care if it’s a soap opera. I’m invested in these characters.

Foothills Ryan

I sure hope it rains like crazy. I’m happy I have a net to throw into at home. Just need to get more balls. Sometimes 2 won’t do.

DrLefty

Absolutely. I’ve never thought they’d go after Tanaka. With that organizational depth, if they were to spend that kind of money ($17+ million per year by all accounts) on one player, it wouldn’t be a starting pitcher.

DrLefty

Much younger brother (Jose was only 21 last season), but yeah. Seems like he’s pretty good. Came back from injury (Tommy John, I think) during the 2013 season. It will be interesting to see how it goes for him this year.

Foothills Ryan

Tanaka probably went off the radar once the total risk surpassed 60 million dollars. So, long time ago.

The Oracle

I’ll fire back at the anti-Beltists, but never with animosity or hurt feelings. I’m currently finalizing the date for my second annual “Brandon Belt Will Be An All-Star This Year” prediction. It turns out that I was actually off by one year.

Yeah, I know his AFL didn’t go particularly well. But he’s not that young, and it seems like he deserves big league camp as much as (more than?) some of the dumpster dives on the list.

Foothills Ryan

He still has to go through Joey Votto, Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman and any other NL first baseman that decides to have a good year. Easier said than done.

Michael Scott

“Imagine that: a potential contender in Golden State. You don’t have to imagine anymore.”
Darn right, thanks for the link.

Keep’n It Real

I am still holding out a slight bit of hope, but it’s not looking good. This said, the last official word on Tanaka (by the Giants) was they would due their due-diligence. Nothing Tanaka-specific since.

The information out there is still inaccurate, because the Angels were said to be the favorites (very recently) and they said they haven’t met with him.

I have my “sign Tanaka” candle lit and it will stay that way until he signs elsewhere. (chuckling)

Michael Scott

Giants are up next in the Baseball Prospectus Top Ten prospect list. It will be interesting, they often have differing views than the other prospect evaluators.

Foothills Ryan

Are you a subscriber and will you be lifting that list for the good ol’ trash talkin’ gang here?

Bapah

But only midstream.

Foothills Ryan

Should throw Allen Craig and Adrian Gonzalez’ names out there as well.

Michael Scott

Yep and Yep.

Matthew

SPOILER alert…

Me too…and was legitimately upset at what happened to Anna…hope bates kicks the guys a**

Michael Scott

I’m sure that’s wrong but I’m a wrongdoer.I stepped on a spider
and pret near broke my mother’s back..

DrLefty

I would NOT mess with Mr. Bates.

DrLefty

That Bernie article you linked the other day had Craig playing RF this year with Matt Adams playing first.

Foothills Ryan

don’t want him to hang either. This is dicey and darkly clever scripting.

DrLefty

Belt was better than both in OPS in 2013. Of course, All-Star selections are a different animal.

Foothills Ryan

curious how STL handles this situation. Prospect Taveras may be ready sooner than later. At any rate, Craig will get plenty of innings at 1B to have eligibility. Thought they’d trade Adams this winter.

Foothills Ryan

“The money lies in the RBI’s.” and batting average and homeruns and track record and fan favoritism and vote-bots.

Keep’n It Real

Jim Bowden’s (ESPN Insider) “Missing Link” for the 2014 Giants

Missing link: Sixth starter

Solution: Trade for a Red Sox high-level prospect
The Giants were active this offseason in signing free-agent starter Tim Hudsonwhile re-signing both Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong. However, in the event of an injury, they still lack depth as they wait for top pitching prospects Kyle Crick, Chris Stratton and Clayton Blackburn to develop.

The Giants should target the Red Sox, who have a number of pitching prospects close to the majors. Perhaps a prospect-for-prospect deal to land any one of Brandon Workman,Allen Webster, Rubby De La Rosa or Anthony Ranaudo would work.

ClutchUp

I’m so behind the times …

ClutchUp

The 2 Teen-aged daughters is a handful.

ClutchUp

AS votes are the same in the NBA. Steph was an all star last year but “nope not gonna do it” Now this yr with a few Lebron quotes about Steph – He’ll probably be THE starter.

Ken E

Well looks like the Dodgers may end up getting Tanaka, so Giants brass I hope you are right in not thinking he’s going to be that special by ignoring any attempt at signing him whatsoever.

“As David Waldstein of the New York Times tweeted Monday, the “consensus in Japan right now” is that the two favorites to sign the pitcher are the Yankees and the Dodgers. Not that this settles the discussion once and for all, but “the word is his wife prefers to be on (the) West Coast.”

So if they sign Tanaka, once Kershaw is extended, those three will be in the Dodgers for rotation for a minimum of the next 5+ years. Awesome. Better hope Crick, et al. develop into what you think they’ll develop into.

DrLefty

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Bowden (again, no knock on our Vogey–but injuries happen). But given how deep the Giants are in their own pitching prospects (some maybe a year or less away), I just can’t see them wanting to trade something of value for a ML-ready starter. Even if it’s a good idea.

If it’s an “expendable” piece like Adrianza or a bullpen arm, OK, but I’d think the Red Sox would want more than that. Meanwhile, Sabean’s been stocking up on this year’s collection of dumpster dives for AAA. Sighhhh.

DrLefty

I’m still not over the sudden deaths of Matthew and poor Lady Sybil. This latest plot turn was a shock to my system.

Foothills Ryan

Bowden needs to get on the Edwin Escobar band wagon. And he shouldn’t forget about Yusmeiro Petit either – guy almost threw a perfect game, kind of like Armando Galaraga.

The Giants brass aren’t so much as trying to make the playoffs as they are hoping. As CC says – “It’s a bridge year”.

DrLefty

So they have Holliday and Craig with Taveras in the wings. Bourjos and Jay to platoon(?) in CF. Craig and Adams for 1B. And that’s AFTER letting Beltran, their leading HR hitter for two years, walk. Sheesh, those are nice problems to have.

I love the additions of Peralta, Mark Ellis, and Bourjos. No more Descalsco (Go Ags!) and Kozma as the only go-to guys. They can be patient with Kolten Wong. Improved speed and defense in infield AND outfield. And best of all, they didn’t have to trade Adams or any young pitching.

Much admiration.

Foothills Ryan

Fortunately, there are 2 wild card slots.

Foothills Ryan

All you all are a bunch of atheists !!! Or existentialists or something…

DrLefty

I hope the Dodgers don’t get Tanaka, but even if they do–you still have to play the games. Still remember the 2011 Phillies–SI cover story on their “four aces” (Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels), gush, gush, gush. We didn’t even have to have the season; it was going to be a Phils/Red Sox World Series, no question.

The Phils won 102 games in 2011, but they got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs and haven’t been good since. Pitchers break (Doc, Oswalt). The Red Sox missed the playoffs entirely with one of the most epic September collapses ever, and they were in last place the next season.

Foothills Ryan

Can’t forget the Mariners. They’re on the West too, even closer to Japan. And they reek of desperation.

Interesting. Parks says only one position player on the list this year (Susac). I can see Panik and Brown falling off, and obviously Peguero, but what did Mac do to get a downgrade? Or maybe it’s just that the pitching crop is SO good.

ClutchUp

Joe Rizzo is a gem. Hope his career with the Giants is LONG.

DrLefty

Crap, Clutch, you SCARED me. I’m thinking, “NO, not his ankle again!”–and then I saw it was just a football bet. Exhaling now.

DrLefty

I’m pleased about Jeff Arnold getting a ST invite. The guy who’s been catching our stud young pitching prospects in Augusta and SJ the last two years–whom they trust and love to work with–gotta root for that guy to climb the ladder and get a shot with the big club in due time.

Sometime around 2016–Buster playing…1B? 3B? Hector turned into a great outfielder or 2B? Susac the #1 catcher and Arnold the backup?

How about (in a year) Hector to the Mariners for Nick Franklin?

ClutchUp

Smh, my bad Lefty.

ClutchUp

Almost like saying “Grace” before eating:”Lord, we know without a doubt you’ll bless this food as we pig out.”

Well, wasn’t me in the girls locker room. On the Texas theater item, just get the attorney that represented the guy a few years ago that blew away two guys stealing some items from his neighbor…unarmed and running away. Justifiable homicide.

As much as I’d like to agree with you, Timmy has been a little shy of “ace” like for 2 years now. The point being, of course, that to count on one pitcher for five years is shaky. 3?

Foothills Ryan

Let’s get a chica behind home plate ! No? Not yet?

Ken E

Sure, but how many teams had two “aces” (or with Tanaka at least potential front end SP) who were 25 and under? Not to mention Greinke is only 30. I’m not by any means saying this would give them an unstoppable force for 5+ years but we’re talking about the best SP in baseball, a probable top 10 SP in baseball and a 25 year old Japanese unknown but with a great split and great command. The Phillies of 2011 featured 3 of 4 guys who I believe were 35 and older…in 5 years Kershaw and Tanaka will be 30. I love the Giants top 2 as much as anyone…but the bottom 3 right now scare the living $%^& out of me. IMHO it puts a lot more pressure on Crick, Escobar, etc. to pan out.

Word out of VZ is Sandoval has lost 42 lbs this winter and is going to join his usual VZ team for the playoffs in a few days.

DrLefty

The two Roys (Doc and Oswalt) were 33, and Lee was 32 in 2011. Hamels was 27. The #5 pitcher, Worley, was 23.

Now, I’ll grant you that 32-33 is not 25-26, but it’s certainly young enough to still be an ace. In fact, Doc was the runner-up for the Cy that year, and arguably should have won it over Kershaw.

Sadly, too, pitchers can break down at ANY age. Look at Matt Harvey and Stephen Strasburg. And Kershaw and Tanaka have a LOT of mileage on their arms for their ages. (So does Bumgarner.)

Ken E

I understand your point, and it’s a good one, pitchers are fickle and can break down anytime. I would just hope the Giants strategy would be more pro-active rather than hoping other teams’ signings don’t work out. I guess I’m just still in disbelief that 3/5 of our rotation will be Vogelsong, Lincecum and a guy who will be turning 39 this season coming off a badly broken ankle. I love Lincecum and Vogelsong but I simply have zero faith in their abilities to be productive SP that can help lead the Giants to the playoffs. Tanaka will be expensive but he’s 25 and his stuff should translate well enough, I believe it’s a risk worth taking given the Giants resources and current state of the staff. But I realize it’s not going to happen and will simply hope our staff can hold it together.

Good. 765 mill was a travesty. About 3 billion would be a reasonable starting point. Plus punitive damages. This may take awhile but the award will be staggering. And whatever it will be it still won’t be enough. In a more civilized country, men would be going to prison.

I took a closer look at the non-roster invites and at most 2 of ’em have a chance to make the big club. Maybe none.

Vegas Giants Fan

Thanks for the kind words as always. What I meant about “less is more” is sometimes he would list 5 to 10 prospects from other ball clubs and not give any background on these players. Then later another post with more players, again without any background. If you wanted to know anything about these players you had to look them up. He would have been better off listing 1 or 2 players and then tell us something about them and why the Giants (and us) should be interested in them. That’s basically what I was talking about.

dgg

Alex has a new story out about Pablo training and losing in the offseason. (It makes me wonder if one-year contracts are the way to go with Pablo.)

“The dramatic change comes after a disappointing season for Sandoval, who looked poised for a breakout following the 2012 World Series but hit just 14 homers last season while struggling with his range at third base.”

From MLBPipeline.com – Top 10 prospects at each position. Left Handed Pitchers.

#8) Edwin Escobar, Giants: Originally signed by the Rangers, Escobar was dealt to the Giants as a 17-year-old in 2010. He has developed into a solid prospect with a good feel for pitching. Escobar’s fastball, slider and changeup are potentially above-average offerings, and he commands them all well. He profiles as a durable middle-of-the-rotation starter for San Francisco.

No Giants prospect made the top 10 for shortstop. Tomorrow the list for Right Handed pitchers will be posted. I’ll post if any Giants prospects make the list.
Thursday the list for catchers will be posted.

Go Giants.

DrLefty

Speaking of top-ten lists, MLBN is doing its “Top Ten Right Now” series. So far they’ve had CF and SS, and no surprise that a Giant didn’t make those lists (and no surprise that the #1s were Trout and Tulo–again).

RF is up next this week. So I’m speculating. Which top-10 lists will current Giants’ players crack this year? They use a sabermetric algorithm they call “The Shredder,” and they’re vague about what that entails–except that it considers both past performance (over several years) and immediate future projections.

Here’s how I see it after a little bit of research, mostly on Fangraphs.

1. Pence definitely makes the top-10 list for RFs, maybe even in the top 5.
2. Posey will be in the top 3 for catchers (he was #1 last year).
3. Sandoval may miss the list entirely (he was on it last year).
4. Even with a deep 1B list, Belt has a good chance of being in the top 10. It’s amazing in how many offensive categories he’s in the top 6 or higher. The Shredder considers defense, too.
5. The other dark horse to make the list is…Marco Scutaro. He was around #9-10 in a number of categories for 2Bs last year.
6. Romo was #2 last year for relievers. I assume he’ll still be somewhere in the top 10.
7. Bochy was #1 for managers last year; even after a losing season, he should still be in the top 10.
8. No starting pitcher made the top 10 last year; Matt Cain was an honorable mention. If anyone makes it, it would be Bumgarner, of course–but there’s a lot of competition in the stats leaders.

DrLefty

Oh, here’s another tidbit I found when I was researching. The three best RFs last year in Fangraphs WAR were:

1. Shane Victorino
2. Hunter Pence
3. Jayson Werth

You know what those three guys have in common. All played for the Phillies until recently, and all were dumped (or let walk) by Ruin Tomorrow Junior.

All three have signed very nice multi-year deals with other teams, and two of the three have World Series rings since leaving the Phillies.

DrLefty

Crick is sure to be on the RHP list. Wonder if he’ll be the only one? Probably.

Vegas Giants Fan

I’m interested to see if Susac makes the top 10 list for catchers. As far as RHP’s I think you are right that Crick will be the only Giants prospect to make the list. The complete list of top 100 prospects comes out on Jan. 23. I wonder how many Giants prospects make that list.

Foothills Ryan

Who you got, chief? Place your bets…

totalfan62

Nice work professor! Very nice piece, thanks for the 411. I’ve been thinking on this as well, liking what you like. Amazing thing with Phillies OFs–you’ve been quick to point out Ruin’s bad deals. With good reason. Nice piece on Panda (cover page)–if he’s at 225-230 lbs. by Opening Day (and can hold it…), he’s a $18-20MM per year/five year investment, IMHO. Go Niners!!

totalfan62

My guess: maybe 5-6, pitchers and Susac.

totalfan62

Agree. My first thought: “those are the guys who play the games with the real Giants players”

DrLefty

Unless they shake something up, there are 2-3 spots on the roster up for grabs at most, right?

–2nd utility infielder (assuming Arias is a lock)
–1-2 guys in the bullpen (IMO, there should be only one spot and Hembree should be a lock for the other, but Hembree has options, so…)

I suppose there could be one other bench spot–fifth outfielder or “other”–if they don’t want to just hand that spot to Perez. So someone like Dominguez or Minicozzi could sneak in as “bat off the bench” if they decide to send Perez to Fresno and go with four outfielders. (Kieschnick has no shot with a lefty, Blanco, already ensconced as backup OF.)

No mention whatsoever of Mac Williamson, who was on the top-10 list last year. Seems odd considering that he arguably had the best year of any position player in the system. I can see that he was more impressed with the arms, but Arroyo and Brown are mentioned in the “on the rise” list, and not Mac.

DrLefty

Get ready for a good laugh. Here are two tweets from Sandoval just now:

“I just wanted to express my opinion about some media comment about me losing 42lbs , I haven’t made any comment about how much weight”

“had lost so far. the day everyone will find out is the day before we report for ST 2014 – On a Mission – God Bless You all”

Does this feel like Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” to anyone else, or just me?!

Michael Scott

Comment 13 shows the Baseball America Top 10, and a link to the Fanraphs top 10, for comparison. The photos of the Top 10 are ones that I thought show the guys in action. There is a quite a lot of disagreement but not for #1- Crick is the Man.http://tinyurl.com/m3qv2yn

“Tiny” (Felder) Sandoval forgot. Feb 1 is FanFest. Will he still be ballin in VZ?

DrLefty

Bob Myers is a freakin’ wizard.

Keep’n It Real

Brooks must be a throw-in. This is good news for the ‘dubs.

Foothills Ryan

That (BP) was by far the most thorough prospect evaluation of the big list providers. Thanks again, Mike. Given the comments on Mejia and the grading of his tools, I can see why he would be ranked second. A plus changeup is probably the most important tool in his kit. He’s already tough on lefties, the fading changeup can neutralize righties. If he can work the ball down more with more sink, he’ll be the real deal.

Keep’n It Real

I’ll never forget seeing Pablo the last time he was skinny. He was at a memorabilia show at the Cow Palace and I had him sign a poster for me. He was very fit…played well early on…and then started bloating up again. I hope he sticks with it this time.

Crick- Horse II
Mejia- his stock has been rising, but may project as a Affeldt type relief swingman
Escobar- somwhat mixed reviews, looks to be a #3 to #5.
Kendry Flores- inconsistent but intriguing prospect- keep an eye on this kid.
Blackburn-Consensus seems to be a workhorse innings eater- did I hear some say “Joe Blanton”? 88-90 velocity.
Susac- something has to give. Should be starting *somwhere* in 2015/2016.
Keury Mella- BP says the highest ceiling after Crick, won’t be 21 until August. Potential for high 90’s heat. 2-3 years away- exciting prospect.
Joan Gregorio- JH Christ- we are *loaded*. Tall glass of water- 6’7″ 180. Injury prone thus far. late inning relief may be his future.
Martin Agosta- lying in the weeds. BP likes him over Stratton and Blach.
Ty Blach- Tom Glavine? Let’s settle down here. But he looks to be a very polished young pitcher-command, “pitchability”, large arsenal. I’ll take “Glavine-Lite”

ClutchUp

@KIR: I agree that Crawford is THE Main guy in the trade but I’m not so sure that Brooks is a throw-away. As Lefty stated about Meyers – he also leans heavily towards HIGH character guys. Larry Reilly is a VERY good evaluator of talent and the DUBS FO got to see first hand when the Celts played REAL hard in the first game back for the Dubs on the road trip. That game was there for the taking and young Head Coach Brad Stevens had the Celts prepared. Brooks is a 6’5 tweener from a good program in Providence. He left college early to prepare for the ’11 NBA draft but when the NBA had a lockout he returned to the classroom to work on his degree. (Doesn’t sound like Shawn Kemp).

Crawford has a Prep School/Military Academy background. He left IU when Kelvin Sampson was busted for mucho NCAA violations – and had to sit a year at Xavier. This year his minutes increased when Rondo went down. Of course he is an underground legend (as a college player) for apparently dunking on King James during the making of a Nike commercial. Underground video was confiscated by Nike (Lebron asked them to) and then Nike fostered the intrigue by saying there was a “no taping” rule during commercials. Apparently the King walked over to the sidelines and asked if the camera footage could be obtained.

If somebody said I’d have to go into 2015 with 5 of these kids as the Giants starting 5, I’d say:
1Crick, 2Escobar, 3Agosta, 4Blach, 5Blackburn

The Oracle

Crawford’s reputation is that he’s somewhat of a hot head. He can also tend to force too many shots and may not be too excited about playing bench minutes in the last year of his contract. It will be Jackson’s challenge to get him to buy into a particular role. He’s definitely an upgrade, though.

Hopper15

Man Panda looks great. Please keep the weight off.

Michael Scott

Excuse me, there’s a gorilla at the door. Says he’s from Baseball Prospectus. Do you know what “good” looks like? This isn’t it……

channelclemente

Come on, we need a Zito surrogate, just for good luck.

DrLefty

Where do I look? The link goes to the main MLB page, and I can’t seem to find it.